Why being a teacher is way, way harder than you think
by Charlie Brooks posted in Parenting
As the school year wraps up, part of me hopes that my son?s teachers will have a nice, relaxing summer. The more realistic part of me realizes that they will instead spend most of that summer in their classrooms preparing for the next school year. Teachers are a crazy, passionate bunch.
Full disclosure: I married a teacher. That might give me a certain bias, but I don?t think it changes my view of teachers as devoted, necessary, and just crazy enough to get the job done. If you think parenting is a tough job, try doing it to 20+ kids at once.
More than that, try doing it to 20+ kids who don?t necessarily respect your authority. Try doing it while answerable to parents, administrators, and school board members who each might think they know how to do your job better than you do. Also, you have to keep going to school yourself to maintain your certification. The median salary for a K-12 teacher in the United States is almost $50,000 per year. That?s not peanuts, but it?s not much when compared to other positions that require the same amount of work. It doesn?t count off-hours spent planning and grading. It doesn?t count summer days spent setting up the classroom.
I have volunteered in the classroom a few times, and I always came away with one conclusion: it?s a fun experience for a day, but I would never make it a career. The people who do make it a career put up with a surprising amount of hassle with relatively few tangible rewards.
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